The Overprotected Kid

               Honestly, it is very hard to remember what I did as child.  My parents certainly were not overprotecting, butI surely wasn't left alone for hours on end like they might have been as children.  I remember always playing in my backyard, which was fenced in, either making fairy houses, building forts, or climbing over the fence to a friend's house.  At the same time, I remember the cautious tones of my parents when I got too close to the pond in our backward, which was only a foot deep, or started climbing a tree to high up.  They had trust, but not excessive amounts of it.
               The Overprotected Child, by Hanna Rosin, takes these kind of childhood memories into account to compare the differences between how generations raise their kids and what effects that might have later in their lives and for generations to come. It poses questions on the freedom we should give children, the risks we should take, and risks we should let our kids take.  Roger Hart, a geography student who did his dissertation on what he called "the geography of children" discusses these risks.  According to Hart, a child's "free range" is directly related to their overall feeling of independence.  It is the little steps like crossing the street or walking to the store that help them grow upend give them a special sense of pride which seems important to their childhood development.  But it seems that parents are becoming more and more protective as the years go by.  As discussed in the article, many kids these days have never had more than ten minutes of unsupervised time, where many of their parents hardly saw their parents until dinnertime.  Things have changed in the ways of parenting, but as research shows, not much has changed to the statistics on things like playground accidents, abductions, and overall safety.  In fact, even the new advances may be detrimental to children, like the rubber surface around playgrounds.  Because kids aren't as scared to land on it, they are less careful and may get hurt more often than on a rougher surface.  I don't think that it is irrational for parents to have fears for their child's safety, but despite their fears, it may actually beneficial to worry less.  
              One of he bigger issues I see for parents and children in this generation, and for the generations to come is technology.  Kids play outside far less than they used to because they grow accustomed to having television, video games, iPads, and even phones at their disposal.  And one of the reasons parents are becoming so overprotective is because they hear about the tragedies and accidents so much more easily through T.V. and social media.  When looking back upon how the previous generation and generations before that handled their children, it seems a little crazy.  The fact that children growing up during WWII were not shielded from danger but instead encouraged to meet it with bravery is something we might find insane today because of the way we protect kids.  
              At the end of the article, Rosin offers an anecdote about his son.  This conveyed the message that sometimes letting go of the reigns sometimes can be very beneficial to the children of this generation.  His son overcame his hatred of getting wet, and even though there was slight risk involved, the outcome was a good one, showing that a little independence can go a long way.